The Phoenix
by songelf88 and G.H.S. the warg
Summary: there is another who can channel, aside from Rand the only problem is he is in our universe and no one knows who he is
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Wheel of Time or anything associated with Robert Jordan. I do not own any of the characters mentioned here in, any names you don't recognize are based loosely on real people whose names have been changed for privacy reasons. A/N: I am working my way through book four so anything after said book has no effect because I don't know it happens ;)  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
"Rand must stand alone Egwene. He is the Dragon reborn. He has armies behind him rallied under his banner. None of the Prophesies speak of another who can channel through the portal stones, no matter what you have dreamed." Siuan Sanche, the current Amyrlin seat replied to her hound of the black Ajah. "I understand that you are the strongest dreamer to grace this tower in over a century, however none of the Prophesies speak of another man who can channel, especially not one in an alternate universe through a portal stone. I will not risk one of my daughters to go and attempt to find him. Should he even exist." The woman sat down in her chair and looked at the young girl before her, her eyes and voice softening.  
"I understand your need child, but I cannot spare even one full sister to help and guide you. I cannot take the chance that none of you shall return from this place that the Dark One has already touched. From what you told me few can channel there and those that can, can only control a trickle, not even enough to light a lamp. I cannot see the need for you to hunt out this man. That is my final word on the matter."  
"Mother, we need to find him! I know we can if we go to this place he resides." Egwene began and was cut off again by Siuan.  
"I said I would not spare a full sister in this hunt." A glint in her eye told Egwene all she needed to know. She nodded her thanks and walked down the corridor to her rooms. The mother only said she would not spare a full sister, which meant that she, Nynaeve, and Elayne were going through the portal stones to find this young man, this phoenix from her dream, and bring him here to help Rand. Before it was too late.  
  
~*~  
  
Jamie, Jo Dee and Faith walked the corridors of their public school. It was long after the final bell had rung and they were headed to Jo Dee's teacher's room to watch gamers club. Jamie was the tallest of the three with shoulder length red hair and freckles, Faith came next in height with close cropped light brown hair, glasses and a very boyish attitude, Jo Dee was the shortest with shoulder length light brown hair, tied back in a red bandana and grey eyes. They arrived in the room and surveyed their kingdom. They were the only females in the room, they were also very teacherless.  
Faith placed a finger over her lips and snuck up behind her boyfriend. She grabbed the chain hanging off his pants and tugged. He turned around and grabbed her. She laughed as he dragged her into his lap.  
Jo Dee went over and sat in 'her' window. It was the center window in the room and Jo Dee had a fake deed to it from her teacher. She watched as her best friends flirted shamelessly with their boyfriend or crush. Her crush stood on the other side of the table and she watched him move around the table to position his army with the eye of a hawk. She watched the boys play warhammer 40k and laughed when they cracked jokes. This was where she and her sisters in all but blood belonged. This was the only place they could be themselves and still fit in. As she watched she began to sing with out realizing it.  
Jamie heard her and joined in, soon Faith was singing in their three part harmony. Their song was called Ireland; it was a song about the Irish going to fight in a war not their own. The boys rolled their eyes and let them sing. When Jo Dee started singing Belleu Wood the other girls dropped out and let her sing. When she finished they clapped half heartedly and went back to their game. This was their comfortable world, full of strange people and happenings but still a peaceful place to be. And only these twenty or so people lived in it. Nothing of their world could shatter the happiness there. But Shi'Tan wasn't of their world, and neither was Egwene.  
  
~*~  
  
Egwene and her two companions stood before a strangely carved group of stones. Elayne sucked in a breath. The daughter-heir had been through much since coming to the white tower but this was the thing she was least looking forward to. At least here she had others she could contact for help if she needed to, after going through the stone she would be cut off from her world and trapped in a strange new one with only Egwene and Nynaeve who knew the things she did. At least here she knew what she was looking for; when they crossed over they were hunting for a man that may not even exist.  
  
Nynaeve loosed a breath she didn't know she had been holding as she and the others touched the stones and were sent across. 'Light let this be the right place.' She prayed.  
  
~*~  
  
"Fay did you hear that?" Jo Dee asked Faith. She just though she had heard a pop, like someone had just opened a stuck window.  
"Yeah Jo. But it's probably a janitor or something. I mean it's six o'clock, I highly doubt someone is sneaking around the school." Faith said as she turned back to her boyfriend Toby. Jamie nodded and added.  
"It might just be the one who actually own the room trying in get in. I mean his keys are there and someone locked him out." She said looking pointedly at Jo Dee, who just grinned.  
"Serves him right for leaving his keys here." They had all forgotten about the noise when the door blew open. Jo Dee jumped up and walked to the, now quite unlocked, door.  
"Who the hell are you?!" Her voice carried through the silent room. Jamie and Faith came to stand behind her, fun forgotten.  
"We are looking for the phoenix. We have to find him, the man who can channel." It was Egwene who spoke.  
"I don't care if your hunting for the song you won't find anyone who can channel here, Aes Sedi." Everyone looked at Jo Dee stunned. "The only person in this room who can touch the source is the one who greeted you. No man has been able to channel in this world since the kinslayer himself." Jo Dee continued to spite the confused and stunned looks coming at her from all sides. "Wait you are not Aes Sedi. You don't have the ageless face. You are only Accepted. What would the Amyriln say to three of her pupils running off through a gate?" She pushed the intruders back with a sight weaving of air, "I will not allow you to intrude upon my home looking for a man that doesn't exist. Return to the white tower and continue your study."  
"Where is your ring Jolyen Sedi? The mother told me I might meet you. She gave me a full description of you." Jo Dee looked at Elayne.  
"I have cast off my ring and all things related to the white tower daughter-heir of Andor. I no longer need to hold to the oaths I took when being raised." Jo Dee spoke calmly.  
"Then where is he Aes Sedi? I don't thing you understand out plight. The Dragon has returned and he needs the aid of the phoenix." Nynaeve spoke calmly but she tugged on her braid all the same. Jo Dee looked around the room and tugged the three women out in the hall. She closed the door behind her as she left.  
Inside the room buzzed with worry. No one knew what was going on. Who were these people? What was an Aes Sedi? And what on earth was channeling? When Jo Dee came back in the room her face was grim.  
"Toby, David, Faith, Jamie could you come out here please?" She asked wearily. She looked as if she was just told the end of the world was near and she had to choose between her family or her friends to save. She sighed as they followed her out.  
"Guys these are Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne. They come from, well the best way to explain it is they come from an alternate universe. The same place I came from."  
"I always knew you were from Mars." Toby tried to lighten the mood. He failed miserably.  
"Toby I'm serious. Their world is in peril and they need either you or David. One of you can touch the true source and because you are from this world it will not have the taint that sadin normally has. However this world isn't conducting to the source and so unless you trained in the other world you wouldn't be able to touch it. In short both of you need to come with me back to my home." Jo Dee said sadly.  
Faith started laughing. "You're kidding! Jo, true source, channeling, other world. That's a riot!" she began clutching her side in laughter.  
"I'm serious Fay." Jo Dee said dead pan. "You two have a choice, you can come with us or you can stay here. It's your choice. But know this first, you're safe here. If you come with me you might not come back. Toby and David I'm so sorry to do this to you but it needs to be done." She sighed again. "We're leaving in the morning. Faith, Jamie you have until then to decide." She turned heel and whipped open the door. Six boys fell to the floor. She rolled her eyes and stepped over them.  
  
~*~  
  
Suian Sanche paced her rooms. She wondered if the girls were alright and forced herself not to check up on them. She could not go through the stones, she might never return and she was needed here. She paused and wondered if they had succeeded and were on their way home. She resumed pacing when the though came that they might have failed and might now be dead with no way to reach her.  
'Light guide them' she thought 'and bring them back safe.'  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning came too quickly to Jo Dee. She was waiting in the school parking lot with the boys, who she had not let out of her sight the night before. They were waiting to see if the girls would come. Jo Dee was torn in two, half of her wanted them to come so she could watch them, the other half wanted them to stay here where it was safe. This was not their war part of her argued. Nor was it Toby's or David's but she was dragging them into it, her other half retaliated.  
It was quarter to five when the sun began to rise and Faith and Jamie arrived. Jo Dee sighed as Nynaeve told those who were new to channeling what to expect when they crossed. Nynaeve pushed Egwene, Toby, David and Elayne before her. Jo Dee made sure Faith and Jamie wanted to do this before she pushed them through and followed behind them all.  
When they had crossed over Jo Dee took a breath and sighed. "I'm home. I never would have thought I would miss Tar Valon this much. Has anything changed?" She directed the question to Egwene.  
"The Black Ajah has surfaced."  
"Oh shit. Light help us all." Jo Dee replied as the others looked in wonder at the shining city that housed the white tower.  
"It's so beautiful. How could you leave this Jo?" Jamie looked in wonder. Jo Dee shook her head.  
"Ok rule one, here I'm not Jo Dee Green. Here I'm Jolyen Sedi of the Green Ajah. Rule two, if you see a woman with an ageless face, a colored shawl or a ring with a snake biting his own tail, don't piss her off. She's an Aes Sedi and she has enough power in her little finger to blow you to little tiny pieces. Rule three if you see an Aes Sedi don't speak to her unless spoken to first. And Rule four guys stay away from a woman with a red shawl, she's in the red Ajah and she hates men." Jo Dee explained. "Got that?" All four nodded. "Good, lets go say hi to mommy dearest. It's been ten years since I've seen her. Oh wait, not Aes Sedi anymore. Oh well I can get mother to raise me to a sister again. Come on guys."  
They four outlanders followed the four women who had lived here back to the white tower. They were awed by its shear size. Faith's comment that it didn't look to be the work of human hands got a laugh from Jo Dee.  
"That's because it's not Fay. It was made by Ogier stone masons. You most likely will not meet an Ogier, they tend to stay in their steddings." The fact that there were creatures here they had never heard of before brought home the fact that they were very far from home to the four outlanders and they stuck close to Jo Dee and the others as they crossed the bridge to the city of Tar Valon. The group of eight passes through the city without so much as a glace at the wares for sale and walked up to the white tower. Jo Dee smiled and raced to the steps like a little girl.  
"I've never seen a full sister acting like a novice." Elayne whispered to Egwene. "Come to think of it I've never heard one lose their composer as much as Jolyen Sedi does." Egwene nodded in agreement. They stopped speaking when they saw that the four Jolyen or Jo Dee, had brought with her run up to the stairs and follow her like ducklings.  
The three girls laughed and followed the estranged sister and her friends.  
  
~*~  
  
Siuan, the Amyriln seat smiled as she saw the three she had sent across the portal stones returning safe and with five others. She started when the keeper knocked on her door.  
"Mother there is a woman here to see you. She brings with her four others, to men and two other women. She requests an audience."  
"Send them in." Siuan replied. She smiled as the woman she remembered as Jolyen walked into the room.  
"The Light illuminate you, Mother." She said as she curtsied. Siuan smiled.  
"And you my daughter. Come now Jolyen we are in private there is no need for you to stand on ceremony. I missed you my friend. The tower has been dull without your smiles."  
"Siuan it has been too long. But I was under the impression I could not return, then three Accepted find me and my charges and seem convinced that one of the men I bring with me is the Phoenix. I thought the Phoenix was never to rise again." Jolyen said with uncertainty.  
"Nothing said he would, and yet nothing said he wouldn't. It was Egwene who dreamt he would. And she is the most powerful dreamer to grace this tower in over a century. So care to introduce me to those you brought with you?" She asked  
"Where are my manners? Of course Mother. This woman is Jamie Black; the woman over there in the corner is Faith Johnson. This man is David Judd; the man over there with Faith is Toby Herndon. Faith Can channel she just doesn't know it yet and Jamie might be able to. I haven't decided yet." She pointed to each in turn. "Mother if it's alright with you I would like to send my boys to train with the warders. In their world there is no need for swords, they have something far more terrible. What they have is like using fireworks as a weapon. It works just as well as if we shot fire bolts. They need to know how to defend themselves. If Jamie cannot channel I would like her to train as well. I will not sit by while my friends stand defenseless. It won't happen."  
"Worry not my child it will be done. They need to be trained." Siuan kissed Jolyen's forehead and dismissed them to the warder fields.  
Jolyen walked her friends to the fields where the warders normally trained. She smiled at the men training and told the girls to do the same. Her idea was to weaken them with a smile and then show them how dangerous you were. It was the ultimate 'talk softly and carry a big stick.'  
They were only half way to the blades master who taught the sword to new boys training to be warders when a voice screamed out and a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Jolyen. She started laughing as the man spun her around in a circle before putting her down.  
"Jolyen Sedi it has been far too long since you have graced the white tower and her warder fields. Where have you been?" He asked.  
"I did not think it was proper for a warder to show such emotion. Then again it has been nearly a decade since my last trip to Tar Valon. I went across a portal stone my friend and stayed there. Of course you know all about my ultimatum." She was cut off as the warder spoke.  
"No. Jolyen Sedi we were not told what had happened to you. All we were told is that you had left the tower."  
"They didn't tell you?" the warder shook his head. "Then neither shall I until the time is right. Lorn these are your new charges, David, Toby and you might have Jamie I haven't decided yet." Jolyen pointed to each in turn. Lorn nodded and looked his new charges over.  
"They will need work Jolyen Sedi, that one doesn't look like he can hold a sword much less swing one." He said pointing to Toby.  
"Work hard Lorn. He will be Faith's warder when she is raised and David" she nodded at the youth "Will be mine."  
Lorn looked gob smacked. "Milady! Surely we can offer you better than a scrap of a boy that looks more like a stork than a man. Why he's nearly a foot taller than you and he's all knees and elbows!" He protested "and besides he will not be skilled enough to be a warder for some time!" She grinned.  
"then I guess you'll have to work fast then won't you Lorn?" She turned on her heel and took Faith and Jamie to their uncertain fate in the huge white stone tower.  
  
So what do you think? Continue or let it die? Well review and tell me! FYI this is the most I have ever written in one chapter of a story. 


	2. chapter 2

Disclaimer: See first chapter I really don't like repeating myself.  
  
Chapter 2.  
  
David Judd was not happy. He was quite happy to live in his own little word, play his war games, and try to survive high school. It was not funny when the woman who he knew liked him suddenly told him he had to pack up and leave his happy little home and go to this place that he might not come out of alive. No scratch that, he would be extremely lucky to walk away from this alive. His anger increased when Jo Dee 'No wait scratch that Jolyen Sedi now.' He thought angrily, brought him here and dumped him with some people he had never met before let alone trusted. He sighed. Normally he could win an argument against Jo Dee. But now he had a feeling that if he tried he would be jerked around like a puppet on a string.  
"Hurry up stork boy! I will not have a day dreamer in my charge." Lorn called to David. "Especially one practically bound to Jolyen Sedi." David barely had time to get his sword up before Lorn attacked. He had surprised Lorn he knew, with what he already knew of the weapon but he was still not good enough. He had fallen on his butt enough times to attest to that.  
Toby broke the metallic silence between the two fighters with a question. "Lorn, what does 'bound' mean? You've talked about me being 'bound' to Faith as soon as she's raised, which I don't understand either and now you're tell in Dave that he's as good as 'bound' to Jo Dee. What the hell does it men?"  
Lorn looked surprised. "To be bound to an Aes Sedi is the greatest honor a warder can hope to accomplish. It means that you serve and protect that woman with your life. You learn the arts of war better than others in hopes of defending her with your last breath. Through the bond you can feel each others emotions, know what the other is thinking. However the bond also means that if she gives you an order you must fulfill it, even if it is as dire as leaving her to die on the battle field as you seek healing."  
"So it's almost like you're married to her?" Toby asked again.  
"No boy. The bond is deeper than marriage. Her emotions are your emotions, your weaknesses are more dangerous to her then they are to you." Lorn replied shortly.  
"What happens if the bond breaks?" David asked quietly. Lorn looked grim.  
"Let's hope that never happens to either one of you." He said with steel in his voice that said louder than words that he spoke from experience. "You, stork, are lucky to have Jolyen Sedi choose you. She is from the Green Ajah and will most likely have more warders then just you and she will not have to depend upon your poor swordsmanship in a time of dire peril. Now guard!" He said as he swung his sword at David.  
  
~*~  
  
The women were in the tower being led back to the Amyriln seat. Jolyen needed Siuan's approval on two matters. One she needed to be raised back to a full sister and two she wanted to hand train her friends. She looked at the two women trailing behind her. If the Black Ajah was really loose on the tower she did not trust the other women in the tower to train her friends. She knew all they would be taught and any other talents such as dreaming or healing could be trained by women who she trusted. After all it was her right to see how they were trained, she did discover their talents and they were her friends.  
"Jo what is going on?" Faith asked her. "What the hell does all this mean?" Jolyen sighed.  
"This was my life before I went across the stones. I was a full Aes Sedi sister able to channel the one power at will. You Faith have the potential to channel that power, to do what I do, and that is needed now. Both of you sit down and I'll fill you in on what's going on here." She sat her two friends down on a bench in the hall and began to speak. She told them about Rand Al'Thor and the story of the breaking and how men who could channel were generally feared as a rule and were gentled to prevent them going mad. She told them everything she knew about recent events and those of the past that would affect them in the future. When she was finished the sun had sunk low on the horizon.  
"I think it's time for diner and I need a drink." Jolyen said and the others agreed.  
"Hey Jo, you said you used to be a full sister. What happened?" Jamie asked. Jolyen sighed. She knew this was going to crop up.  
"Faith, Jamie, I was accused of using Balefire. I had a choice, either cross the stones and never return or be stilled. And being stilled scared me more then the world on the other side of the stones. To be stilled would mean I could never touch the power again, I would always be able to sense it but I would never again feel its sweet flows of power rushing though me. And trust me the fact that I had a choice was very kind, normally if a woman is found guilty she is stilled. I was only given a choice because I was framed."  
  
~*~  
  
Toby and David stumbled their way back to the tower and were shown to their rooms by novices ordered by Jolyen to help the young men. The novices waited outside their doors as Toby and David changed and washed, they then showed the men to the kitchen where they could eat.  
Toby looked up as he heard Faith's voice coming from down the hall. He saw her walking away from him and he broke into a run to catch up to her. When he did he saw that someone had changed her out of her jeans and tank top and put her in a dress. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. She smiled and hugged him tightly.  
Their happiness did not last long. Soon a young girl in an Accepted's dress shattered their peace. She came panting, as if she had run a long way.  
"Milady, the mother craves a word with you and your charges. She says it's urgent." She managed to pant out to Jolyen.  
"Well then, we mustn't keep the mother waiting." Jolyen said as she gathered her skirts and motioned for the others to follow her. She led them down a twisting route to the mother's chambers.  
In twenty or so minuets she had led the others down to the chambers of Siuan Sanche, the Amyriln Seat and the leader of Tar Valon. She knocked on the door, only to be stopped but the Keeper and finally let through with a scowl.  
"Welcome my children." Siuan said as they entered the room.  
"May it be that I speak for all of us when I say may the Light illuminate you, mother." Jolyen said with a curtsey. "You summoned us mother?"  
"Yes I did." She motioned to the other people in the room. "Jolyen do you know who these people are?" She continued when Jolyen shook her head. "This man is Rand Al'Thor, the man beside him is Perrin Aybara, the woman beside you is Moraine Sedi and her warder al'Lan Mandragoran, and our final member is Matrim Cauthon. I'm sure you have heard of them since your return. I have taken great pains to get them here. Would you care to introduce your companions?" Jolyen nodded and spoke.  
"The tall dark haired man beside me is David Judd, the other man with us is Toby Herndon, the red haired woman behind me is Jamie Black and the woman with short cropped brown hair is Faith Johnson. And I am Jolyen Sedi of the Green Ajah." She curtsied again. "It is an honor for all of us to be in your presence Lord Dragon, surely the tower has rarely seen such a grand gathering. Mother, may I ask why I was summoned?"  
The Amyriln grinned and motioned for the new arrivals to sit. "Now that we are all here I can begin. As you well know the Dark One is breaking the seals on his prison left and right. It's like having a shark in a minnow net. It's only a matter of time until the net breaks." She looked at them all with a level stare to drive her point home. "I will not risk him breaking loose at any cost. This is one shark that has to stay in his net. Otherwise who knows what will happen. Rand I understand that you need to fight him, but you're not ready yet. Jolyen Sedi has brought us a weapon that none of us were expecting. She has brought us the Phoenix. There are virtually no prophesies containing the Phoenix, some that do say that he would not rise again until after the second breaking. So naturally none of us were expecting our outcast to bring him back to us." She gifted Jolyen with a smile.  
"He was not supposed to be born on the other side. If Jolyen wasn't already there and Egwene hadn't dreamed him we would have never found him. Rand he is to help you fight the Dark One." Siuan finished. Jolyen looked around before she stood up.  
"Mother as much as I was expecting this, and as much as I though I was ready, I cannot give up one of my friends to a war that isn't theirs. I shouldn't have even brought them here. They were safe where they were. Mother I have nearly 50 years under my belt and the eldest of my friends has only 17! I will not make them fight and die when they could be safe. It was a mistake to bring them here; I am taking them home tomorrow morning." Jolyen stood up and strode from the room. Her friends looked at each other. David shook his head and followed after her.  
"Umm... I have no idea why we're here. Jamie? Any clue? Didn't think so. Miss. Amyriln ma'am? Jo's right, she didn't want to bring us here. It's not her fault that she's looking after us. I'd do the same thing in her shoes. David's gone to calm her down and bring her back." Faith spoke fist.  
"David and I know some of the risks in being here, not all by a long shot but still some. I want to help, David does too but he'll never say a work to piss off Jo Dee, sorry Jolyen Sedi. I personally have really no clue what's going on but if it's bad enough to make Jo lose her cool it must be big." Toby said cautiously. The Amyriln sighed and continued without the other two.  
  
~*~  
  
It was early in the morning when the council ended for sleep. Toby sighed regretfully; he had only a few scant hours to sleep before training. He latched onto Faith before escorting her to her room and walking back to his alone.  
He felt as though he had barely closed his eyes when he was being shaken awake by Lorn. As he wiped the sleep from his eyes Lorn began throwing clothes at him. Breaches, a lacing necked shirt and coat. He fumbled into his outfit as the warder left, presumably to wake up David.  
Bleary eyed he walked to the kitchen in hopes of being fed only to find himself being swept out by a large woman holding a spoon like a scepter. His stomach growled and reminded him of his lack of dinner the night before and his scant lunch. He stumbled down the halls he remembered in hopes of finding the training yard. He did not succeed.  
Instead of the training yards he found himself face to face with the man called Rand Al'Thor. Or at least he though it might be him; his memory didn't work well when he was half asleep and hungry. He bowed yawning before the other man and once again began walking in the direction he hoped the fields were in.  
He stopped at Rand's laughter. "You're going the wrong way. Forgive me if I don't remember your name from last night, I wasn't quite awake. If you're looking for the warder fields you have to go back the way you came. Come, I'll show you." Toby just blinked awkwardly. They stood there for long moments before Toby shrugged and followed Rand down the hall.  
"Sorry, I barely remember your name, but I was told you were important. Why is that?" Toby asked half asleep.  
"You don't know? Well that new. Where do you come from?"  
"Buffalo New York, although I highly doubt you'll know where that is. Nor do I think you'll know where the United States are because they don't exist here. So spare a few words for a stupid tourist." Toby said irritably.  
"You would get along with Mat. But honestly no one has told you about the breaking and the Dragon or any of it?" At Toby's nod he stopped dead in the hall. "Well this we have to fix. Come with me I'm sure Lan and Lorn won't care if you miss one day's practice." He led Toby down the hall to the warder's fields and cornered Lan.  
After explaining the predicament he took both Toby and David with him to explain what was going on.  
  
~*~  
  
"No, Faith! Light you could have just killed us all with that!" Jolyen yelled at her friend. "You have to picture the void not try to create one in the room!" She sighed.  
"Jo, I'm trying! But not all of us are air headed bimbos who don't need to put forth effort to think of nothing!" Faith shot back. Jolyen only showed a small widening of her eyes before Faith was picked up and floating in midair, and then pinned against the wall.  
"By thinking of nothing I was just able to thicken the Air around you so you cannot move or fight back. If you would just master creating the void in your mind you could have fought back. At this moment I could shield you from the Power and you would not be able to fight back until I loosened my hold." She replied calmly, right before Faith fell to the ground and she was the one flying.  
"loosen up Faith I can't breathe." She said calmly. Faith did as she was told and was soon being restrained and shielded as Jolyen slid gracefully to the ground. "Very good! If you can learn to do that without me making you fly I will be very happy." Jolyen called it a day right before noon and Jamie took Faith down to the fields to see how the guys were doing.  
  
~*~  
  
"What do you mean the guys are gone?!" Jamie screamed at the stone faced warder. "Those are two of the only four people I know here you better damn well find them!"  
"from what I understand it is not a novices place to order any about. Even if you are from another world I will not obey a woman young enough to be my daughter, unless I am bound to her." Lan said calmly. "Now return to your studies novice."  
"Grrr! Men here are so, so irritating!" Faith yelled for all to hear.  
"I agree with you completely." Nynaeve said from behind them. "But where I come from they are far more stubborn. I am Nynaeve by the way; we were not introduced properly before." Jamie and Faith jumped at the sound of her voice but calmed when they saw she meant no harm.  
"I'm Faith and the airhead next to me is Jamie." Faith announced. Jamie glared.  
"Yeah, I'm with stupid." Jamie said jerking her thumb at Faith. Nynaeve grinned.  
"What were you two trying to get out of Lan? I might be able to help in that area." She said with a cryptic smile.  
"I don't what to know what goes on behind that door, but I do what to know where my boyfriend and David are." Faith said.  
"Your boyfriend?"  
"You know, my worse half, significant other, Prince of Darkness..." At the last name Nynaeve tugged on her braid. "Whoa, calm down you don't want to tare that out by the roots do ya? It's just a nick name. You know like calling someone a stubborn ass?" Faith continued.  
"Oh you mean your lover! I can help with that, wait here." Nynaeve walked back up to Lan just as the boys walked around the corner with Rand and Mat. Faith ran at them and jumped on Toby, wrapping both arms and legs around him; as if he could disappear at any moment. The others laughed, until they looked over and saw Nynaeve and Lan locked in what looked to be a very passionate embrace.  
"You two came with these boys right?" Mat asked. Jamie nodded as Faith clung tighter to Toby. "Did someone at least tell you what you're up against?" Again Jamie nodded. "Good." Mat concluded.  
"Have any of you seen Jo- sorry Jolyen?" David asked. Jamie shook her head.  
"Not since noon." Faith called from her position on Toby's lap after the two had found a bench to sit on.  
"I wonder where she is." David said off handedly as he sat down with two of his friends and watched Jamie follow as Mat and Rand walked away.  
  
~*~  
  
"Mother, please! I cannot test them! I cannot ask Toby or David to try to touch Saiden! The taint..." Jolyen ranted pacing. She was cut of by Siuan.  
"Will not affect them. They are not of this world Jolyen." Siuan said calmly. "I think I was wrong in giving you back your ring and shawl. You are not thinking clearly in this matter. You are thinking with your heart not your mind. If one of them is the Phoenix then he will help Rand and the others are free to go, you included. I know that if the Phoenix is Toby Faith will not follow you back, but if it is the other boy, David, all the rest of you are free to go. The girls could leave now if they wished. You could save all but one Jolyen. That is all I can offer you."  
"But mother! The last time, and come to think of it the only time, the Phoenix rose he surrendered his life to save the Dragon! He killed himself! I can't let that happen to one of my boys! If Toby dies it would kill Faith before the day was out. If David dies..." She trailed off. Siuan gave her a knowing look.  
"Now we get to the heart of the matter. I have seen the way you look at him Jolyen, I'm not blind. I know that in your heart if he dies you will not last the next day. You don't want to take the chance that it is him for fear of his death, and if it isn't him you'll be ashamed of the relief knowing that you place a loved ones death to a close friend. That is the problem isn't it?"  
Jolyen nodded. "Mother, I could not live with myself knowing that I sent a friend to his doom and quite possibly another to hers. Nor could I live knowing I was sending David to his doom. I cannot be the one to test them. I could not even stand to be in the same room. Let me take them all home mother. To where it is safe. This is not their war."  
"But it is yours. No matter if you are on the other side, if the Dark One wins you will begin to fade. You will get sick with an illness that no one on the other side has seen. If we lose, you die, Jolyen, along with anyone on the other side who can channel as well. Nothing can change that." Siuan said with pity in her eyes. "I will test the boys myself tonight. If you wish to be there you may come. If not I will not force you. Light shine upon you my daughter."  
"And you mother." 'Please light let them not be able to channel, for their sakes and mine.' Jolyen prayed as she left the mother's chambers.  
  
~*~  
  
The sun had set past the Dragonmount when the Amyriln seat brought Toby and David to one of the empty rooms in the tower. Jamie and Faith were not in attendance as they had been forbidden entrance. Jolyen sat in the corner looking everywhere but the Amyriln, Moraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Lan, Rand and the scant others in the room. She would not let her eyes be cast upon the two boys who she had come to love, one as a brother and one as more.  
Toby and David stood in the center of the room, looking every inch the warriors they would soon have to be. Both looked at the Aes Sedi and warders in the room but neither flinched. They stood there, no one moving a muscle, it appeared that nothing was happening to the untrained eye; but if one could channel they would see the flows flying around the room from those present who were known to channel. The purpose of these flows was to light the boy would could touch the one power with an inner glow, much like if one had suck a candle under his skin. The flows infused themselves in one boy. When Jolyen looked up she wept openly.  
The light was shining from David.  
  
So? Good, bad? Tell me review! I won't post the next chapter until I get at least three reviews! You've been warned. 


	3. chapter 3

Let's see I had this chapter written before I even posted the last chapter. Ahh what the heck here's the story. Again I say I am working my way through the fifth book so any screw-ups are from lack of knowledge, and any misspelling are from laziness(I don't feel like going to get the book.)  
  
Chapter 3  
  
It was three weeks after the fateful night in the empty chamber. Toby had continued his warder training and so had David at his own request. David however now had to work at control with Rand every night, they were teaching each other how to use the power neither fully understood. It had been proven that Jamie had no talent with the Power and Faith was proving an adequate, but not proficient Accepted, having been raised three days after the boys' testing. David, Mat, Rand and Perrin were leaving.  
Mat, Rand and David were leaving for the Waste with Moraine and Lan, where the first two boys and Moraine and Lan had been before being summoned. It was decided that David, because of his ability, had to go with Rand. To spite protests on all sides, those going, those leaving for other places, and those left behind. Jolyen was vehemently against David going because, she claimed, the five of them from the other side should stay together. Toby hated that his friend was leaving and he had to stay period, and Faith was angry because Toby was angry. David was angry that he was being taken from the only people he knew to be sent off with strangers to a strange land.  
Jamie was not angry. She couldn't have cared less. She had found a new interest. Logain. The false dragon had lost his will to live, and she, surrounded by her boredom gave an ear to the man. She talked and he listened, he talked and she listened. He told her of what he had hoped to be and what was left for him. She told him of the home she had left to be surrounded by strangers. In short they were in love.  
The packhorses were lined up by the gate in anticipation of the leave taking of Rand and his party. David stood off to the side as the others prepared to leave. His things were packed away on one of the animals and his own horse, a gift from the tower, stood near the front of the line tossing his grey head. David turned to his friends.  
"Jamie, I hope this Logain guy makes you happy and if he does I'm happy for you." Jamie hugged him and stepped back. "Toby, man I can't think of anything to say except I'll miss you and don't let Faith control everything while I'm gone." Toby cracked a small grin. "Faith, don't hurt Toby, he's like my brother and the only guy here who gets my jokes." Faith grinned and hugged him tight.  
"You had better come back." Was all she said to him.  
"Jo Dee, you know I can't picture myself ever calling you Jolyen, I'll miss you." He stepped forward to hug her, but she beat him. She kissed him roughly through her tears before backing up.  
"Sorry, I had to do that. This could be the last time I see you and I couldn't let you go without-" She was cut off by David's mouth pressed against hers softly.  
"You talk too much. Good bye Jo Dee and farewell Jolyen Sedi. When I come back I will be raised to a warder. Your warder, if you'll have me." With that he stepped back and walked to his horse without looking back.  
"Light willing that will happen, love, Light willing." She whispered to herself. She watched the party ride until they were out of sight.  
  
It was two days since the party left for the Waste, and Jolyen Sedi had not come out of her room. She ate in her quarters alone and she taught her friends in her own living room. Jamie, Faith and Toby had had about enough. They had concocted a plan to remove her from her solitude. As the trainer of Faith she had to be there when she was raised, it was a rather quick idea and a long shot at best. It meant that Faith had to study harder and learn more in less time in order to pass the standards needed to become a full sister. But it needed to be done.  
"Wow Faith! You're learning fast. At this rate you'll be Aes Sedi in a year or two. That's faster than most, trust me." Faith grinned at her friend's words, little did Jolyen know that the Amyriln and the rest of the Green Ajah were in on her little scheme and were training Faith behind Jolyen's back. 'I'll be raised long before that, Jo. Long before.'  
"Did you hear? Jamie and that Logain Berry dude are getting hitched. This weekend apparently." Faith began.  
"His name is Logain and he makes her happy and visa versa. Why shouldn't they get married? Just because Toby didn't propose yet is no reason to get jealous of Jamie."  
"Jealous? Who said I was jealous of the fact that they've barely known each other for a month? Who said I was jealous of the fact that they've not been dating that long and are getting married? Who said...I just proved your point didn't I?" Jolyen grinned.  
"Yes you did my dear, but I wouldn't worry if I were you. They will be happy and so will you and Toby later in life. And look at it this way at least you know Toby isn't going to kill himself the moment you walk away for a day or two." her mood turned somber again. "At least you know you're going to see Toby again." Faith didn't say a word but the pity shone from her eyes. She got up and quietly left the room.  
  
"Holy Shiite Muslim! Where did all these people come from?!" David jumped as fifty or so Aiel emerged from their hiding places along the road. The others laughed at his exclamation and quickly explained. He took it all in stride.  
"So they're snipers basically." Seeing their confused looks he added. "Men and women trained to kill without being seen."  
Rand shook his head. "David, when an Aiel fights he or she does so in plain sight the only thing they do in preparation of the fight is veil the lower part of their face. And they never call it a fight it is the dance of the spears, and they despise swords." David shrugged.  
"It was the only thing I could link them to from my world. It was worth a shot, O Dragon Reborn and He Who Comes with the Dawn. Wow those sound like band names." At their confused looks he muttered "I forgot you guys don't have proper music here." Raising his voice he added "When we see Faith again I'm sure she'll have her music and then I'll be able to fully explain what a band is, and before you ask, no it is not a group of fighters." The others laughed at his explanation and left it at that.  
They continued on their trek.  
  
"When the rain's blowin in your face, And the whole world is on your case, I would offer you a warm embrace, To make you feel my love." Jolyen sang softly. Faith and Jamie entered quietly and just stood there and watched her sing out the window in the direction of the Waste. There was no doubt who she was singing to. "When evenin shadows and the stars appear, And there is no one to dry your tears, I would hold you for a million years, to make you feel my love. I know you haven't made your mind up yet, But I would never do you wrong, I've known it from the moment that we met  
  
No doubt in my mind where you belong. I'd go hungry, I'd go blind for you, I'd go crawling down the aisle for you, There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do, To make you feel my love. The storms are raging on a rolling sea, down the highway of regret, The winds of change are blowing wild and free But you ain't seen nothing like me yet. There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do, Go to the ends of the earth for you, Make you happy; make your dreams come true, To make you feel my love." She trailed off and turned to look at the door. "How long have you two been there?"  
"Long enough." Faith replied. The others went and sat beside Jolyen. "I know you miss him Jo. We all do. But he's going to come back. And now that our gloomy moment is over I have good news, the Mother person what ever the hell we're suppose to call her, decided that I know enough to be raised. Meaning you have to be there, also meaning you have to come out of this room."  
"Yeah Jo, you're so pale, say it with me now, SUNLIGHT!" Jamie said with an exaggerated arm movement. The others laughed, Jolyen half heartedly. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and wondering what their friends back home were doing.  
  
"Mother I really don't think that the girl should be raised! She has barely been here a month, she has no spectacular power; she is under trained and weak! She would die on her first venture! Her 'friend' Jolyen Sedi should know this!" Elida protested to Siuan Sanche.  
"Daughter that is more than enough. She will be raised on Friday next and that is that."  
"We'll just see about that Siaun, We'll just see." Elida muttered as she walked out.  
  
"So Jo, you never told us how you got into High School with us in the first place. I mean why on earth would you want to go through hell...again?" Faith asked from within the circle of Toby's arms. The four who had been to earth and Logain were gathered in Jolyen's room on the day before Jamie's wedding that would bind Jamie not only to this world but also to a false dragon many wanted dead. Jolyen sighed.  
"Fine I'll tell you the whole story, from beginning to end, but only once. Understood?" at their nod she continued. "I was born to the sea folk; however I was a sickly baby with no tolerance for sailing. So my mother, being a sailsmistress wouldn't stand for a weakling daughter and she sent me off to a family of poor fishermen who were never blessed with a child. However she sent me to a fisherman family in Tear, where Aes Sedi are feared and hated.  
"When I first started showing signs of channeling my adopted parents disowned me and sent me to the tower, here I was taken in by the Aes Sedi and trained to be one of them. I was raised 15 years ago at the age of thirty-five to a full sister." She was interrupted by Faith  
"Hold up, rewind, at the age of thirty-five? Fifteen years ago? Jo that means you're...FIFTY?!"  
"Yes Faith I'm fifty, don't look it do I? But that's just because of working with the power for as long as I have. You will look like this too someday soon. You'll look ageless, like you're stuck at twenty for your whole life. But going on with my story, when I was raised I studied several of our artifacts that have unknown uses, about two years ago I discovered a rod that created balefire." At their confused looks she explained "A white sort of fiery substance that destroys everything. After studying the weavings used to make it I soon possessed the knowledge to create it myself if needed. But I never used it.  
"Another sister, who left the tower for the Black Ajah after I went into exile stole my studies and used the weapon herself. I was blamed for the whole mess and given the choice between exile in your world or stilling. Needless to say I chose exile.  
"I stayed alone in my home for nearly a year before deciding to educated myself about the world I was now living in. So I enrolled in high school. I faked my records and ID, lied about my age and tried to blend in with all of you. It worked to a point, no one knew I was much different than anyone else, but the downside is I fell in love with your world and the people in it. I fell in love with the peace you live in, and I did not want to come back to my war torn home. Nor did I want to drag all of you into this. Least of all the four of you I brought here." She stopped talking to a stunned audience. No one had any thing to say.  
Toby held Faith tighter, as if she would be dragged away in an instant and Logain pulled Jamie into his lap and held her. Jolyen looked at her friends and sighed. She looked toward the window with sad eyes. 'Please be safe David, if you die I'll never forgive myself.'  
  
David looked at the desert around him and the wise ones over to the side. He saw Egwene and Moraine and Lan with them, along with Matt and Rand. He felt no desire to go join them. He looked out in the direction they had come from and he almost though he could hear her voice.  
"She would not want you to pine for her continually, David." Amys had come up behind him without him noticing. "The woman you long for, would not want you to pine for her, she would want you to continue your studies." He didn't respond but continued to look off into space. "Tell me about her. This woman you long for."  
He started. "I don't know where to begin. She's an Aes Sedi if that counts for anything, she's one of those women you have to know to think is beautiful and then you wonder how you missed it before, she has a round motherly face, grey eyes and change color depending on the light, you know, I only found out she loved me as I was leaving. She kissed me and cried. I was told that Aes Sedi don't cry or show emotion. In that one moment she was more beautiful than all the stars in the sky. God I miss her." He looked back to the Spine of the World. "Jo, I swear when I go back I'll love you like you deserve." He whispered.  
"She sounds deserving of your love young one. Perhaps you will see her again someday. Someday, when you dream you will see her." She patted his shoulder and stood. "At least she is safe in the tower that is what you must focus on." She turned and left him alone to his thoughts.  
'She had better be safe.' David thought as he looked to the mountain chain. 'She'd better be.'  
  
"Jo! Wake up!" Faith screamed as she pounded on the door. Jolyen flung open the door. "Jo we have an issue, Siuan is displaced. That damn red sister is now the Amyriln we need to get out of here, maybe we can get Jamie and Logain married in the next town." Faith spoke quickly and Jolyen was up and dressed in record time.  
The two girls ran down past the fighting in time to see Min and 'Cook', as Jolyen called her, descending as staircase. They followed to find Siuan and Leane being led out. They again followed to the stables and readied their 'borrowed' horses. Siuan noticed them.  
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked archly. Jolyen just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  
"We're escaping Siuan, what does it look like we're doing? I swore when I crossed the time break that I would protect these four with my life and that's what I intend to do. And since David isn't here I will protect Logain as if he was David, Jamie loves him and that's his saving grace. Now as soon as we find Toby, Jamie and Logain we're leaving. If you come with us you might be better off." With that Jolyen turned her horse and raced to the warder fields with a spare mount for Toby and one for Jamie and Logain. 


	4. chapter 4

Sorry about the lack of up-dates. My computer is crapping out on me. Now with out further ado I give you: CHAPTER 4!  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
"Logain, do you think you could hold off succumbing to gentling for a while longer? I mean come on, you're a newlywed! Aren't you people always hopping in bushes every chance you get?" Faith mocked as she tried to spur Logain into a form of life. Logain didn't respond. Jamie had had no better luck rousing her husband. He didn't respond to anything. The road and gentling seemed to catch up with him. "Toby, do something!" Toby shook his head.  
The eight rode on. Their number attracted some attention but not much. Jolyen and Faith were passed off as sister ladies and the other six were their body guards and ladies in waiting. Jamie hated every minute. She complained and fought and complained some more. They reached the town of Salidar after only a slight mishap involving a burnt barn and a lord given an oath.  
They were in the city for five minutes and Siuan was already trying to play Amyriln to the exiles. This did not bode well for the rest of their stay. Only when lord Gareth showed up demanding they fill their oaths did they realize the severity of their situation.  
  
"Rand you had better god damned be sure their still in the tower! I've got this feeling that something's wrong." David yelled forgetting the thin tent walls. The maidens were not pleased. They entered the tent fully intent on removing David. Only a gesture from Rand stopped them. They returned to their posts outside the door.  
"David, I'm sure their still in the tower and safe. Nothing can break Tar Valon save her own people. And I highly doubt a riot." Rand said calmingly.  
"Easy for you to say! The woman you love and are fully intending on spending your life with isn't alone in a tower with only her friends for protection! I know Toby, Jamie and Faith! They can't fight worth anything and Jolyen would never lift a hand in defense of herself! Rand I need to go back! I feel it!" David began pacing the confined space like a caged tiger. "I need to find Jolyen! I keep having this dream about this town called Salidar or something like that. I have a feeling that's where she is. I miss her. It's almost like I know what she's thinking and what she's feeling." David began mumbling.  
"You are nearly bound to her David; those are her feelings coming through the weak bind." Lan answered the unspoken question as he entered the tent. "Rand, Moraine would like a word with you." He turned and left the tent with Rand trailing behind.  
David paced in the nighttime chill. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong with the others. He looked to the mountains again. He clenched his fist and walked to where the horses slept with a determined step. Nothing not even the bloody Dragon Reborn was going to stop him from checking up on his friends. Now if only he could find this Salidar place. He readied his horse, Arthur Pendragon, and turned toward the spine of the world. He was going to Salidar, as soon as he figured out where it was.  
  
"SIUAN SANCHE! You are no longer the Amyriln seat! You have been SITILLED! You're not even Aes Sedai anymore! How dare you try to order us about!" Screamed a newly raised yellow sister. "You are not of any use to us; tell me why should we even keep you here?"  
Before Siuan could retort Jamie jumped in. "Damn you all to hell! If I didn't need you to make sure my husband lives I'd..."  
"You'd what? Kill me? Girl you can't even channel let alone harm me..."  
"ENOUGH!" Jolyen roared. "We have a job to do and you three are squabbling like cats in a bag! Well I have news for you; retract your claws and look around. We have to make sure this village survives the winter, not kill each other. Jamie, get your husband and bring him here, Siuan, go take care of Lord Gareth with Min and as for the rest of you don't you have something important to do?" She received glares on all sides but her orders were obeyed. "That's better; now tell me about these crops we're not getting in."  
The days went on in much the same pattern. Lord Gareth prepared the army of Salidar and the Aes Sedai within planed and plotted and worried over their own survival. They sunk into a sort of routine that was disrupted only when Elayne and Nynaeve bust through the underbrush with four other women, two children, a thief catcher, Thom Merrilan and a small army of Shienarans. They were immediately taken into custody and questioned for all they knew. The artifacts they brought with them were examined and the broken seal to the dark one's prison was given no more mind then the stone ring that allowed entrance to the world of dreams.  
When their questioning was finished Elayne, Nynaeve and their charges were handed over to Jolyen for training and care. Somehow Jolyen had become the resident baby-sitter. It became her job to see the new comers fed and housed. She had given up her own home for the more then twenty people now in her care. Jolyen had moved in with Jamie and Logain, Faith and Toby,  
In seeing the couples all around her and living with two of the happiest she became more lonely then ever. She cried herself to sleep at night to the sounds of her friends in the rooms on either side of her. Her existence went on only because her charges needed her and she would not die until she knew if David was indeed dead. Only when she was no longer needed and completely without David would she lie down and accept death without a fight. Until that day she went on with no true reason to live except the hope her love was alive. If he died the Dark One himself would fear her fury.  
  
"DAMN YOU PEOPLE!! What the hell do you mean Salidar isn't a real place? I was told by everyone else this damn town was in your borders! Now where the hell is it?!" David yelled to the poor guard he asked directions from. The guard shook his head and David turned around frustrated.  
"You, boy, you want to get to Salidar? Tell me who you work for and I'll help you. What are the yellow passwords? Or the blue? Or even the Green?" He glared at David trying to see if he was guessing or had any clue what he was talking about.  
"Sorry sir but the bruise on my arm is turning YELLOW I don't HEAL very well. I hope they turn the fellow who did this to me black and BLUE, this town needs JUSTICE. Then again the fellow was looking GREEN from the BATTLE." David looked at him and he nodded. He motioned for David to follow him down the street.  
"It's a three hour ride from here. I won't tell you my name because if you don't have a name you can rightfully tell people you haven't seen me." They approached David's horse and the strange man walked off to return with a fine mare that he clearly had stolen. He set a pace toward the woods and David followed with hope in his heart for the first time in weeks.  
  
"Jo you need to get outside. Come on, Logain's finally up and about again and he needs someone to watch him. Please Jo, you look like you're dieing and that doesn't look good on you trust me." Jamie pleaded.  
"Oh screw it, Jolyen Sedai of the Green Ajah, get your ass outside and get in the sunlight!" Faith yelled as she walked in and physically dragged Jolyen outside into the village square. "Now you can come inside in four hours and no sooner! I'm putting an air barrier across the doors and windows, you WILL stay outside!" Jolyen sighed and sat on the small rocking chair in the dirt outside the house. She began to sing, the song didn't even have words really it was just nonsense syllables she put together in the form of lyrics.  
  
"You sure we're almost there?" David asked. The guide nodded and pointed to a break in the trees.  
"That is Salidar." David rode forward as the guide turned and rode back to the city. He dismounted and walked his horse to the warders, who recognized him and let him though. He heard Jolyen's voice before he saw her. She was sitting on the other side of town staring out into the trees. He grinned and walked up behind her and put his arms around her.  
"I told you I'd come back Jo Dee." She leapt up and threw her arms around him, her lips locked with his and he carried her over to her house only to be stopped by the barrier of Air across the doorway.  
"Faith I hate you! David's back let the barrier down now!" She saw the flows reversing and the weave disappearing she grinned at David. "Now we can go in love. Where were we?"  
  
Sorry for the short chapter but I have serious writers block. Review with any ideas you might have for me. Remember the more reviews and ideas the faster I update! 


	5. chapter 5

Hi I'm back! See I didn't die. And seeing how I got no reviews for the last chapter I'm not sure you even deserve a new chapter. Mark my words: If I get no reviews for this chapter this will be the last chapter. I will not up-date until I get reviews. And now what could be your final chapter.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"Due to the fact that neither one of you is in your homeland you shall be wed by the customs of this land." Jolyen said seriously. Toby had proposed to Faith the night before and they had decided to forgo an engagement and wed the next morning. So here they were, Jolyen presiding over the ceremony with most of the Aes Sedai, novices and Accepted present along with the budding army of Salidar and those from the other world.

"Toby, you come to me asking for the hand of this woman as your wife. Is this true?"

"It is Jolyen Sedai." Toby replied.

"Faith, you have accepted Toby to be your husband. Is this true?"

"Yes it is Jolyen Sedai." Faith whispered looking lovingly at Toby.

"Then with the consent of those gathered here today I pronounce thee wed. You may now share your first kiss as a married couple." Jolyen smiled. She had bent the rules a little and shorted the ceremony from Earth so Faith and Toby would understand it. Originally the ceremony would have been longer and more drawn out but she didn't think that was necessary. Faith and Toby kissed, to the crowd's approval and the men began to bring tables into the green center of town for the celebration to begin.

The music was a mix of Earth and something distinctly other-worldly that just screamed Salidar and Aes Sedai. It was a miracle that the batteries in Faith's CD player still worked, but then again no one really listened to it in light of recent events. As the happy couple was dancing David pulled Jolyen aside.

"I leave tomorrow Jo. As much as I hate it I have to go. I've been gone for a week and in a war anything can happen in a week. I will come back as soon as I can Jo." He explained. Jolyen nodded.

"I'll miss you. Stay safe you big oaf." She hugged him tightly and looked about the village. "As much as I want to go with you David my place is here. The Forsaken are running loose, though none of my sisters will admit it, the Aes Sedai order is breaking down, I need to stay here and protect Jamie and Faith." David nodded in understanding. He gently kissed her and moved away through the crowd. Jolyen put on a happy face for Faith and Toby, not wanting to ruin their happy moment with her sorrow. She turned at a tap on her shoulder to see an Accepted standing behind her.

"Jolyen Sedai, the sisters have found a way to send your friends home." She whispered. "They can all leave. Only they can take nothing of this world with them."

"Take me to a full sister, Accepted."

"Yes Jolyen Sedai."  
  
"Sheriam, what do you mean you have found a way to send Jamie, Faith and Toby home?" Jolyen called as soon as she walked into the room. The faint sounds of partying could still be heard outside.  
"Yes Jolyen I have. There is one problem however. They can take nothing of this world with them. Jamie must leave behind Logain, as for Faith and Toby, their wedding will not hold. You must remain because you were born here and David has far too many ties to leave. However they will be safe. The taint of this world will not touch them there." Sheriam walked to the other side of the room and picked up a small wooden dragon.  
"Fitting isn't it? The very thing that brought them here will be the thing to send them home." She handed Jolyen the dragon. As she curled the younger woman's fingers on the figurine she said "Make the right choice for them Jolyen. It may hurt them now but you know it will help them."  
Jolyen looked about the sparsely furnished room and sighed. She shook her head. "The choice is theirs to make. I can not do this to them. I will not be the one to decide Sheriam. I cannot tear them from spouses and friends. And if Shi'Tan" She continued to spite Sheriam's feared gasp "wins here how long until his reach extends to their world? Yes, they will decide." She turned heel and walked back into the happy music filled air. She was going to give three a choice, one that would result in pain on all sides. No matter what the choice.  
'Light let them choose the right thing.' Jolyen prayed as she tightened her fingers on the small dragon. 'Please let them make the right choice.'  
"Jolyen, may I have this dance?" Toby approached her. The batteries had finally run out and a few servants had dug up instruments from Light only knows where and had continued the music.  
"Won't your wife be upset that you're dancing with another woman Toby?" Jolyen said glancing at Faith who was happily dancing with Logain.  
"Not in the slightest. Besides I have a feeling you have something to tell us." He took her hand and led her to the clearing. As they danced she spoke.  
"My sisters have found a way to send you, your wife, and Jamie home." Toby began to interrupt but Jolyen stopped him with an upheld hand. "There is a catch. None of you can take anything from this world with you. That means you and Faith will no longer be married, Jamie must leave behind Logain and I will not be going with you. Because the very clothes you wear were made here they can not go across. Only what you took with you can return and the gateway will forever be sealed. Think on it Toby. Shi'Tan will not be a threat to you or Faith or Jamie. In another year or so you can marry her properly and Jamie can find someone she loves on the proper side of the gate." When she finished she looked down.  
"You see Toby; my sisters are not giving me a choice. Sheriam told me to choose for you all. They take for granted that I would send you back. None of you were supposed to be here. This isn't your fight." She pleaded. "Please make the right choice."  
The song ended and Jolyen made a move to walk away. Toby grabbed her back and didn't let her walk away like she desperately wanted to. Faith shot him a questioning look before seeing the thinly veiled anger in his eyes and sought out David to dance with.  
"I noticed that you didn't mention David among those going home Jolyen." She opened her mouth. "Don't start; let me guess, 'David has too many ties here' 'the fate of my world rests in his hands'. Well let me tell you something Jolyen Sedai, We all have ties here-"  
"But yours are still weak enough to leave!" She protested. Toby continued as if she hadn't spoken.  
"We have lives here Jo Dee. Faith and I are married, and you expect me to give up my _WIFE_ because you want us to go to a home we don't have anymore?! I don't think so! Jamie is married to the man she loves, yes he's odd, yes he could channel before, but that doesn't matter. If she leaves he will die. Is that was a human life means to you Jo? Sending three people away from things they love, to forever pine because of what they lost? I know I could marry Faith back where we came from but what about Jamie? She would never see her husband again and then you get to watch him die because you took away the one good thing in his life. And I would never see David again, he is my best friend Jo and you'd be sending me to a place where I'd never know if he lives or dies." He hissed.  
Jolyen pulled out of his arms, her eyes flashed before she walked away from him. Over her shoulder she hissed, "Do not think I had not thought of all that Toby. And do not under any circumstances think I am above compulsion if that's what it takes to get you three home."  
  
It was early the next morning and David was once again leaving to find Rand once more. As he readied his horse he was approached by Sheriam.  
"I see you are leaving us child. So soon after your friend's wedding. However I believe you should wait a few hours. You may not be traveling alone. I have long thought of sending one of our own with you. The Phoenix and the Dragon reborn need Aes Sedai council. If you would tell me of a woman you trust I will see to it that she is sent with you."  
"I can't do that. I will not tie someone's fate to me directly. I've read Rand's books on what happened the last time the Phoenix rose. I know that I will die for this cause."  
"Prehaps it is a good thing we do not know what our future holds, for then there would be nothing to hope for. You have lost your hope. I intend to send someone with you so you can find it again."  
David shook his head. "Let me tell you something and you can quote me on this to you're Aes Sedai friends, 'intelligence is like underwear, we should all have it but we shouldn't show it off.'" He turned his back to Sheriam and continued with his horse.  
  
A/N: There it's done unless you review I will never up-date again. Be warned.


End file.
